The Needs of the Many
by lightcudder
Summary: A UFO 'AU' story.


**This is a Work In Progress. It IS a UFO story, (albeit an AU one,) and it is currently being published on my website (Lightcudder's World - see my profile for a link) one chapter each week. This will be the ONLY section posted here for the immediate future. **

**Chapter 1 **

Ochio

Straehk reached the end of the path and turned to look back. This season's crop promised to excel even his expectations, the fields full, the plants weighty with enough seed to keep the colony provided for next year and beyond. He had done his last walk-through just an hour before, trailing fingers though the heavy-headed ears of grain. Dark golden and ripe, they bobbed under his touch. It was only right that he should feel a sense of achievement in his work. Not pride, just satisfaction. A job well done. He would begin harvesting in the morning when the crew arrived, but his work here was completed and he could rest for a while.

The cave to which he was heading was unknown to anyone else, not because he wanted it a secret, but for the simple reason that no-one came here apart from himself and T'Shaan. The mouth of the cave was little more than a low-roofed tunnel opening out into a wide cavern, smooth walled and clean, washed through by flood waters in the wet season and drying out in the hot summer sun; a fault line in the strata, widened over millions of years by the stream trickling through the darkness.

Straehk headed for the waterfall at the far end, a mere trickle in the summer drought, compared to the torrent that gushed forth from the cavern in later months. The gloom inside the cave made him blink, but after three years he knew his way and walked sure-footed towards the far wall, where he tugged his shirt over his head, the soft material sticking to sweat-soaked skin, then removed sandals, trousers and loincloth with a sense of relief. He stepped beneath the small cascade, the sharp sensation of cold water on sun-scorched shoulders and weary muscles enough to make him gasp and flinch away for a moment. He was more patient this time, putting his hands under the downpour and splashing his arms and chest for a few moments, even that brief contact enough to make him shiver.

Holding his breath, he stepped the under the stream allowing the water to cleanse dirt and soil from his legs, letting it pour down his back and over his head, then he lifted his face to its cold kiss and drank it in. His hands reached for his bound hair, fingers untying the strip of leather that held it confined until the whole length was free. The sunshine would dry it later, but for now he relished the caress of the water as it refreshed him.

A long time he stood there until he could feel himself shivering. The cloth once again wrapped around his hips, he ventured into the sunshine for a few moments to dry in the warmth. There was no need to return yet; T'Shaan was still in the town and as he thought her name and pictured her face, he sensed her in his mind, there in the background, part of him, just as he was part of her. She was holding a length of blue material. He could feel her delight, and the touch of silken soft fabric as if he was holding it himself.

Perhaps this evening he would be able to continue his studies. Perhaps, but it was likely that his betrothed would want to discuss the final plans for their wedding. And it was hard to resist her. The sense of quiet amusement filling his mind right then was hers, and he sighed and promised he would spend this evening with her, instead of his books. Again. She was more important than his studies anyway and he felt her laughter this time as he shook his head to let the sunshine dry his hair, bleaching it even lighter. Only ten more days and he would be sitting in their home, T'Shaan's sisters and nieces and nephews gathered around watching, and the married menfolk of the family behind him. He wondered how it would feel to have short hair, and he heard her giggle.

'Sh..' he said aloud, although there was no one to hear his words. 'Leave me in peace now. I will see you this evening.' Her thoughts retreated, but she was still there, now quiescent in the furthest reaches of his mind. A comforting presence, his future wife, his joy and his laughter. His loved. And, reassured, he went back into the soft darkness to rest after another day working the fields, pulling on his loose trousers then lying on the stone slab that made this cave more than just a place to cleanse himself. The smooth, water-washed shelf of rock was more than long enough to accommodate his height and he closed his eyes and began the mental exercises that preceded his daily meditation.

T'Shaan examined the length of material at the trade stall. A beautiful piece, fine- woven with an intricate pattern of silver threads running through, and an exact match to the blue of Straehk's eyes. She could feel him in her mind, sharing her enjoyment of the day. The town square was busy with stallholders hoping for a brisk trade on this first day of the harvest festival. She agreed a price and waited as the piece was folded and wrapped. 'For Straehk?' Yarvik enquired, holding out the parcel as T'Shaan counted out tokens.

'For Straehk,' she confirmed. 'It will make a fine wedding tunic.' She turned to call to a group of children playing in the cool shade of the russet-leaved hushnar trees edging the town square. 'Come now. Or we will be late.' There were groans of dismay from the youngest, but they gathered around her obediently. She handed each of them a small bag. 'Share these with your brothers. Promise?'

T'Prala, the open-eyed innocence of an infant still just a toddler, stared into the bag with delight before lisping a promise, even as she helped herself to one of the sticky sweets, cramming it into her mouth and already reaching for another one.

T'Shaan sighed and took the bag away, with a pledge to return it when the others arrived. 'Don't you want to see the Heads of House? They arrive soon and we'll miss them if we don't hurry. T'Prala, hold my hand please.' She led the way across the market square, heading for the raised steps at the far side where the children would be able to see the Heads of the Nine, robed in traditional garments, in their procession through the square.

A couple of the farmers moved aside to make a place for her and the children under the shade and she thanked them, offering each one of the biscuits that she had bought to share with Straehk later. There was a shout from one of her nieces and she saw her sisters, husbands and sons in tow, hurrying through the gathering crowd towards the cluster of children. 'Welcome. And in time,' she greeted them, stepping aside to let the boys join their siblings, the crowd stirring as the first of the Nine stepped onto the dais.

'Straehk?' her elder sister whispered.

'The fields. He wanted to come but the crop is ready. He sends his greetings.' T'Shaan repeated her fiancé's words from the morning. 'And he asks me to tell you that he looks forward to Betrothal Day.'

'Not long now. Ten days, and he will be part of our family. A welcome addition. The children are also looking forward to the day.' The crowd around them stilled then, and there was no more chance to talk. T'Shaan watched the simple ceremony without seeing the elderly Heads of the Nine Houses in their formal robes, nor her siblings or even her much loved nieces and nephews. From the quiet silence in her thoughts, she was aware that Straehk was meditating and she should watch the ceremony to describe it to him later, but she let her mind drift into pleasurable daydreams instead. Ten days. He would no longer be her betrothed, he would be her husband. After what seemed like a lifetime of waiting they would make their vows and be joined as one.

She smiled to herself. As one. There was deep passion within Straehk, unseen by those who only saw the dutiful and sometimes stern farmer at work in the fields. A quiet man, shy and diffident, yet he was devoted to her, so devoted that he had refused a place at the Academy in order to come here to Ochio and share her life. She looked down at the neat parcel she was carrying and pulled it open, lifting out the material to run it through her fingers and imagine him standing before her. She would make loose trousers in a darker shade of blue, or perhaps cream. Cream would be preferable, to match his hair. The stallholder would know where to get some. The voices of the Nine carried across the square, even the children quiet now, listening to the ceremony.

The distant thrumming was enough to make the Nine stop their recitation and look around, perplexed, the onlookers turning to see the cause of the interruption and then screams broke the silence. Terrible screams, not just of fear and pain, but strange high-pitched sounds from the numerous craft spinning from the sky and sending beams of destruction across the square. The Nine tumbling, bloodied and silent from the dais, farmers scrabbling away from the steps only to be caught in more blasts, everyone huddling together an a futile attempt to avoid what was coming as death rained from the sky. The beams came closer and T'Shaan had no time to do anything other than grab the nearest child and run in a vain attempt to protect the toddler, to save at least one member of her family. T'Prala's face was still sticky from the sweets, and as the blasts rained down on the crowd, as her sisters and brothers-in-law and precious children fell, and as the red-suited strangers walked out, killing without thought, T'Shaan held the child close, kissing her one last time before reaching out to him...


End file.
